Tweeting Swedish foreign minister calls Turkey's decision to block the network 'stupid'

3/22/2014
ASSOCIATED PRESS

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Sweden’s foreign minister has taken to Twitter to tell Turkey its efforts to block access to the social media network were “stupid.”

Carl Bildt says the blockade “isn’t working and also backfiring heavily.”

Bildt, known for being very active on Twitter, made the remark today, a day after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan imposed a ban on the network.

The blockade came after links proliferated on Twitter to recordings that appear to incriminate Erdogan and other Turkish officials in corruption, including one in which Erdogan allegedly tells his son to dispose of large sums of money from a residence amid a police graft probe.

Tech-savvy users in Turkey quickly circumvented the ban and users swapped instructions online on how to change settings.